Philokalia Ministries

The podcast delves into the nature of prayer, guiding listeners on how to approach worship with humility and obedience. It emphasizes the importance of offering a sacrifice of praise to God and being fully given over to Him. The discussion explores the value of silence, contrition, and inner purity in spiritual life, drawing inspiration from Christ as the model for prayer.

The podcast discusses the importance of discernment in the spiritual life, highlighting how sin distorts our perception. It emphasizes the need to see the glory of God and acquire love through discernment. The chat during the group touches on topics like neuroplasticity, triggers, suicide as an option, and personal struggles.

Exploring the significance of Psalms in prayer, monks emphasize guided prayer, communal worship, and self-awareness. Liturgical asceticism shapes interior life, leading to simplicity and humility in worship. The transformative power of discipline, silence, and forgiveness in prayer is highlighted, promoting mental clarity and peace.

Dive into the essence of faith as described in Step 26 of Discernment, emphasizing the importance of seeing with clarity amidst worldly distractions. Explore the struggles of pursuing spiritual growth in a materialistic world and the role of virtues in receiving the gift of eternal Truth. Reflect on the significance of humility, faith in times of despair, and the balance between being spiritual and religious in modern society.

The podcast explores the significance of praying the psalms as members of the body of Christ. It delves into the dangers of external religiosity without true repentance and purity of heart. The discussion highlights how our prayers reflect the state of our hearts and can impact the Church as a whole. The text chat during the group also touches on suitable prayer practices for the laity, emphasizing the importance of deepening one's spiritual connection and avoiding superficiality.

As St. John draws us forward with these simple sayings about discernment and its fruit, we begin to see the immeasurable beauty of the ascetic life and the action of God’s grace. The life that God calls us to is not one of frenetic activity but rather the cultivation of purity of heart and humility in order that He might act within us. We do not seek simply freedom from sin but rather the life of the kingdom. It is the love, the virtue, the goodness of Christ that transforms the world. It is our entrance into the Paschal Mystery, the dying and rising of the spiritual life (with and in Christ), that makes the love of the kingdom present to the world.  The life of the hesychasts, the ascetics who set all aside for Christ, is at the very heart of the church. When we lose sight of their love and desire for God, the church grows cold.  It is in the spirituality of the desert that the church will find renewal; when the minds and the hearts of men and women are open to the beauty of the life that God has called us to by His Grace. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:37:24 Anthony: In a way, some of the response to church scandal has been like an ill- guided peasants crusade.   00:39:35 Anthony: The peasants crusade led to harm for thr peasants   00:54:23 sprou: does solitude equal spiritual warfare?   00:55:33 David: I liked what Bishop Barron said about love being willing the good of the other. (St. John Paul) but first one needs to know what the good is and what is truth.   00:56:03 Vanessa: Reacted to "I liked what Bishop ..." with 👍   00:56:58 Jeff O.: I’ve often wondered about the connection between the cultivation of hesychia and Paul’s admonition to stand in Ephesians 6…it seems there’s some sort of relationship there as it relates to warfare   00:57:01 David: This was in response to a lot of virtue signaling and some of the strange things in our culture.   01:04:43 Kate : A priest told me that hesychia is a form of quietism.  His comment confused me, and I did not know how to reply.   01:06:47 Anthony: Uh oh, Palmas vs Barlaam again..... 😉   01:08:39 David: In Latin America it is common with quasi liberation theology priest and lay people to call them navel gazers but this is just seeing the outside aspect not understanding what is being developed. I always call the fathers the intranauts boldly going to the root of our condition.   01:13:18 David: Holiness attracts and people seek what they feel and see in joy and peace of others. N   01:13:32 Vanessa: Reacted to "Holiness attracts an..." with ❤️   01:13:51 Vanessa: Really enjoying class tonight. Lots of good discussion.   01:14:25 Kate : Father, prior to listening to these classes and discovering the Fathers, my ladder was propped against the wrong wall for years…as you stated earlier.  These classes and the Fathers have so transformed my interior life.   I have only begun to understand the love of God.   01:15:04 Nick Bodmer: Jesus even rebuked Martha because she was discontent that Mary was not being "worldly enough" in her eyes.  The spiritual life was established even while Jesus was still with us.   01:21:40 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:21:51 cmoran: Thank you, Father!   01:21:53 Lisa Smith: Thank you God bless you   01:22:29 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! Praying for you!   01:22:33 Jeff O.: Thank you! Blessing to be with you all.   01:22:41 David: Thank you father will pray for you!    

We continued with St. John’s summary of discernment and its particular fruit in the spiritual life. However, it does not read like a summary. Each saying opens us up to a divine reality and a participation in the life of Christ that comes to us by grace and the ascetic life. One cannot help but be captivated by the beauty of what St. John describes. It becomes evident that what we are being drawn into is the very beauty of Christ and that of the kingdom. Grace has the capacity to transform even the darkest of things within us and to illuminate the mind and the heart to see clearly what has eternal value. With the reading of each saying one begins to experience a holy desire growing within the heart. Thanks be to God! --- Text of chat during the group: 00:06:34 FrDavid Abernethy: page 217 page 14   00:25:57 Anthony: He says this while I'm making dinner....   00:31:19 David: Despair is suffering without meaning- Victor Frankl   00:49:34 Eric Ewanco: Reacted to "Κλίμαξ αγίου Ιωάννου.LadderClimatuspdf" with ❤️   00:49:43 Eric Ewanco: Reacted to "TheLadderofDivineAscent.pdf" with 👍   00:50:29 Lisa Smith: Reacted to "TheLadderofDivineAscent.pdf" with 🙏   00:57:24 David: The gate also opens like Grace and one needs to be drawn to the opening in the fence.   01:02:59 Anthony: If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts....   01:20:11 David: They are finding so much in neuroplasticity that the fathers described ages ago. One the pathways are established it becomes a cycle. Lots of talk about "rewiring the mind". I think fasting might actually help with rewiring because you are not rewarding a undesired behavior.   01:20:36 Rachel: That was in relation to the other discussion   01:21:56 David: No money in fasting   01:22:10 Rebecca Thérèse: Fasting literally rewires the brain because the body starts to generate new neurons after 48 hours of fasting.   01:22:24 Vanessa: Reacted to "Fasting literally re..." with 👍   01:22:30 David: Autophagy as well   01:23:28 Rebecca Thérèse: Reacted to "Autophagy as well" with 👍   01:25:14 Rebecca Thérèse: Autophagy is where the cells start to digest damaged parts of the body and damage interior to cells   01:26:04 Bob Cihak: Autophagy is also known as apoptosis. I call it cellular recycling.   01:26:32 Rebecca Thérèse: Fasting stimulates growth hormone which os useful in repairing damage and is also useful if you're a body builder   01:26:49 Susanna Joy: Love this clas🙏🏻💖   01:26:59 Lisa Smith: Too Fast. Thank you Fr   01:27:41 Sophia: God bless you fr.Abernethy!   01:27:42 Susanna Joy: Thank you, Father.   01:27:42 Art: Thank you Father!   01:27:43 Jeff O.: Thank you!   01:27:43 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father   01:27:43 David: Thank you father !   01:27:51 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂  

We continued our discussion of prayer and the things that often become an obstacle to it. Much of the discussion this evening focused upon the things that make us lazy or weary in prayer or lead us to drowsiness. One of the important things that the fathers teach us is that sleep is an appetite that is to be ordered like any other appetite. Our life has been given to us for repentance; that is, to turn toward God and to seek to love him with all of our heart. It is this reality that should shape the way that we look at prayer, the way that we discipline ourselves - and yes - even how we sleep.   Rising at night is one of the most wonderful times for prayer for a number of reasons. The mind and the body are humbled. The thoughts are often not moving so rapidly nor the world around us and its noises. Praying at night provides us with an opportunity to enter into deep silence, so as to listen to God and the word he wishes to utter in the depths of our hearts.   Therefore, there are times when we will have to force ourselves in order to strengthen our will to not only bring ourselves to prayer but to remain there. Whenever we experience drowsiness, we must resist it firmly. Often we will give up a discipline when we face difficulty. It is our love for the Lord, however, that must send us out at night seeking He alone who can satisfy the longings of our heart. --- Text of chat during the group:   00:02:04 FrDavid Abernethy: we can hear you   00:02:21 FrDavid Abernethy: page 89   00:21:49 Anthony: I did that. I'd go back. It drove me nuts, playing on scrupulous feelings   00:49:25 Ann Thelen: Quick question regarding food/fasting...how do we deal with the temptation to vanity when we are attempting to fast? We know fasting has wonderful health benefits. One of those benefits is that we look better and more healthy which can feed into vanity.   01:04:22 Anthony: Menaion?   01:17:14 Lisa Smith: Thank you & God bless   01:17:56 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father!   01:17:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:18:04 Nicole Dillon: Thank you ☺️   01:18:08 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. Praying for you.   01:18:19 Ann Thelen: Thank you.   01:18:26 Cindy Moran: Thanks  

As we come toward the end of Step 26 on Discernment, St. John begins to offer us a summary of all that we have considered in the previous pages. In doing this, he alters his typical way of writing. One may speculate that he does this because of the importance of the virtue of discernment; both in fostering it and in protecting it.  Using brief sayings, very much like those found in the Philokalia, St. John begins to lay out for us the path to perfecting this virtue as well as to speak of the fruits of it in our lives.  Our capacity to see spiritual realities in an unimpeded fashion allows us to be attentive to all of the vices as well as the remedies that the fathers set before us for overcoming them. In summarizing the step in this fashion, St. John presents us with the truth very much in the way that we receive it from the gospel. It overturns the worldly way of viewing things. It allows us to experience the discomfort of having our sensibilities challenged in regards to our patterns of thought and our most basic desires. It compels us to ask ourselves, “For whom  do I live? Who do I love above all things?” --- Text of chat during the group: 00:02:46 FrDavid Abernethy: page 215   00:02:51 FrDavid Abernethy: number 85   00:03:29 FrDavid Abernethy: number 185   00:08:47 Tracey Fredman: Thank you, Fr. David for referencing the book "Toward God" by Michael Casey. It's amazing!   00:08:57 FrDavid Abernethy: great!!   00:09:11 FrDavid Abernethy: he’s a wonderful writer   00:09:40 Kate : I am reading it too!  It is wonderful.   Like nothing I have read before.   00:09:41 FrDavid Abernethy: his book on lectio divina called Sacred reading is great too   00:26:15 Anthony: Do you have any comments on discerning the origin of thoughts without playing with the thoughts?   00:43:12 Anthony: That makes sense since Eros is a seeking, inquisitive movement.   00:51:38 David Swiderski: Especially prayer with gratitude.   00:52:19 Andy Nguyen: Replying to "Especially prayer wi..."     Yup   00:52:21 Wayne: Reacted to "Especially prayer wi..." with 👍   00:58:03 Lisa Smith: I just read this today.   01:01:41 Andy Nguyen: Social media in general is an addiction   01:02:00 Rod Castillo: I go on to Facebook every day to see what you have posted, Father   01:02:36 Lee Graham: I go to X   01:03:05 Susanna Joy: Reacted to I go on to Facebook ... with "❤️"   01:03:35 Lisa Smith: Yeah, there was a time I would turn the internet off totally. It was easier to pray more fully then. I struggle with that these days.   01:03:44 Susanna Joy: Replying to "I go on to Facebook ..."     I do too...you often...   01:04:26 Lisa Smith: But on the flip side I discovered Eastern Christianity online.   01:04:40 Art iPhone: Reacted to "But on the flip side…" with 👌   01:04:46 Art iPhone: Reacted to "I go on to Facebook …" with 👌   01:05:45 Art iPhone: Your posts Have real value Father.   01:05:49 BRIAN L: Your posting of On the Passion of the Saviour became part of my daily Lenten prayer so thank you 😃   01:09:17 David Swiderski: I have read this before with the Fathers I think Issac and I don't understand the relation between deer and snakes. Deer seem like fragile creatures and I grew up always being close to them. Destroyers of roses and alfalfa yes.   01:11:14 Jeffrey Fitzgerald: Father, what is the next book after Climacus?   01:11:24 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Prayers, Father!   01:11:38 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂. Have a good retreat🙏   01:11:39 Jeff O.: Many blessings on your time there!!   01:11:49 Lori Hatala: and i will be guilty of jealousy   01:11:53 Susanna Joy: Praying for you.🙏🏻   01:11:55 Wayne: Replying to "Father, what is the ..."   good question   01:11:56 Art iPhone: Prayers!!   01:12:35 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father! Have a blessed retreat!!   01:12:37 David Swiderski: Safe travels and God Bless you father!   01:12:39 Jeff O.: Thank you Father!  

Breaking the night for prayer!!  The very idea either never comes into the mind of modern Christians or it sends a shudder through the heart. The idea of limiting something like sleep for the sake of prayer, of humbling the mind and body in such a way on purpose and regularly seems to express a type of insanity. Would I not make myself sick or incapable of working the next day if such a practice were embraced in modern times. Yet, it is a constant practice throughout the spiritual tradition; to sanctify time and foster an urgent longing within the heart for God that causes the soul to rise, even in the night, to seek him. Admittedly, this may require that we simplify our lives. There is already a frenetic pace in our day-to-day lives; a busyness that is almost suffocating. Such makes the idea of adding night prayer to that seem impossible and even frightening. One can only come to know the fruit of this through experience. In the stillness of the night, impediments that often plague us throughout the course of the day fall away. Creation itself grows quiet and with it the human heart. Such a heart filled with urgent longing for the Lord will rise eagerly and with joy to taste the sweetness of his presence! --- Text of chat during the group: 00:59:01 Anthony: Perhaps a principle issue I'd reconciling the mind / interior thoughts with the heart / the noetic sentiment of affection for one's true calling.   01:02:04 Kate : Do the Fathers differentiate between vocal prayer and mental prayer, or is that a Western distinction?  Is there a recommendation to the kind of prayer that would take place during a night vigil?   01:02:34 Lisa Smith: I find the setting has a huge impact on prayer/ like a noisy city compared to the quiet woods. I find it easiest to pray in a rural solitary place. With minimal distractions   01:03:31 Ann Thelen: what is the best way to discern if waking in the night to prayer is something we are called to? or are we all called to this? Maybe I am overthinking this.   01:06:22 Ann Thelen: fear of failure in this resolve seems to be the thing that immediately presents itself when thinking about rising in the night for prayer.   01:08:42 Lisa Smith: Catherine Daughtery wrote a series called Poustina. I've been meaning to read that.   01:10:38 Wayne: Replying to "Catherine Daughtery ..."   I do have a copy of this book   01:10:58 Lisa Smith: Replying to "Catherine Daughtery ..."   🙏   01:10:59 Ambrose Little: I wouldn’t suggest that’s a healthy model! 😄   01:11:07 Rebecca Thérèse: Before the modern era it was common for the night to be divided into "two sleeps". It was really the industrial revolution that ended this practice.   01:11:50 Ambrose Little: Replying to "I wouldn’t suggest t..."   Saying that as one who’s helped his wife stay sane through 7 kiddos. It’s not a time we want to extend or further.   01:14:47 Anthony: Another ill effect of the "reformation," particularly the English variety.   01:16:37 Anthony: Yes   01:17:15 Ann Thelen: I appreciate the analogy of nursing the baby. We have five children and the youngest is 7 now. My excuse has been that I will be tired if i get in the night to pray. That analogy shed light on my excuse. It actually spoke to my heart saying "Ann, you've done this before. Don't be afraid of it"   01:20:00 Maureen Cunningham: Susan Wesley would put an apron over her head she 12 children everyone new she was in prayer   01:23:31 Lisa Smith: Thank you Fr. God bless you.🙏   01:23:32 Maureen Cunningham: Blessing Father   01:24:09 Andrew Adams: Thank you Father!   01:24:10 Ann Thelen: Thank you   01:24:11 Dave Warner (AL): Thank you Father!   01:24:20 Steve Yu: Thanks, Father!   01:24:22 Maureen Cunningham: You are to kind of   01:24:25 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:24:43 Leilani Nemeroff: Thanks